Does sour cream work as a substitute to the heavy cream? Thanks!

I make it everytime I have guests over and get compliments every time!

I don't think that sour cream will work in this recipe as you need to cover the potatoes in liquid and I'm pretty sure the sour cream will split. Whipping cream is required. Sorry for the delayed response Renata.

Is powdered parmesan the same as grated ?

Yes they are interchangeable for this recipe as long as it's fresh powdered parmesan.

I have made this recipe 3 times and it is special no doubt rich and fulling. But sometimes the potatoes don't quite get soft not sure why Joe can you help with this?

If there was only one thing that we could teach here at Rouxbe, it would be to ignore the times on recipes and learn to cook until things are done by knowing what done looks and feels like. Think about potatoes... there are small ones, medium one, etc.. Think about ovens, electric, mine is gas, convection, some hold the right temperature, others are off by 100 degrees.

So focus on learning to cook until things are done. For this dish, I never uncover the potatoes until I can push a fork easily through the potatoes (with very slight resistance). You can of course take off the aluminum foil to check, but seal it back up tight if not done (and watch out for the steam when opening up). Only when they are almost fully cooked can you take off the cover for the final browning. Then, let them sit for at least 20 minutes before serving. These potatoes can even sit for up to an hour and they will be delicious.

I should have read the comments before trying the recipe. My potatoes took much longer to cook. Also when I removed the foil and tuned oven temp up to 375 degrees my cream mixture curdled. I believe this was because of the increase in temp. There was a lot of water in the base of the pan around the curdled sauce. However, the taste of the sauce and the potatoes was delicious! I think I will try to adapt this recipe to my Scalloped Potato recipe.
Bettye V.

Roughly how much is 4 medium to large potatoes, 1lb, 11/2 lbs etc. Also I wondering if I could mix in some swiss or cheddar cheese along with the parmesan cheese topping.

4 medium to large potatoes is about 3 pounds.
I just weighed them :-)
As for other cheeses, I would maybe add them only in the last 10 minutes of cooking, as the Swiss or cheddar may slip on you otherwise.

I made this tonight with lamb, this is the best.
But, I really need a lesson on lamb.
I may just mess with my family, and make these wonderful potatoes for Thanksgiving! Oh no, where are the mashed potatoes!!!

Talk about comfort food, this is the definition.

These were so easy to prepare and tasted amazing! Thank you for your comments because had I not read them first I would not have known to cook them longer. I cooked them the night before. Once cooled I took a cookie cutter and cut out small portions, placed them on a cookie tray on Parchment paper and then reheated them just before serving. Made for a nice presentation and easy clean up.

Hi Joe, I'm looking to have this along side a Chateaubriand on New Year's day.
I was wondering if you get different results if using a waxy spud like yukon golds or a starchy version such as a russet?

I suspect that both will work okay but I've always preferred russet potatoes for these gratin.

Happy new year :-)

Hi

1/2 teaspoon salt? Is that table salt or kosher salt.

Great question... And sorry in advance, because I'm going to give you a short and long answer.

I think we use table salt for this recipe. However, I want you to whisk in the table salt until the mixture tastes just a bit too salty for you (the cream mixture). This is how you will be able to learn to do this dish without a recipe. The only key points to remember with this recipe are:

1. butter the dish (so things don't stick)
2. the cream mixture, needs to be a bit salty
3. the potatoes should be just covered
4. cook the potatoes covered - testing with a fork or knife as shown in the video)
5. then remove and brown the surface
6. let rest for a few minutes before serving (even up to 30 to 45 mins - no problem)

With this knowledge, you can know make this dish for 100 without a recipe. In general, most recipes have a few critical points (as I call them). Master these and you will always have success.

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you.

I doubled the recipe and had to pack the rows of potatoes a bit closer together in order to fit into my pan . So it took 90 minutes to bake them and then I let them rest for 20 minutes to soak up the cream. I was sure I would have leftovers but everyone raved about them and devoured them all.

Thank you so much for this recipe Joe! I made it with some baked parmesan chiken and it was a total hit, everybody in my family loved it. Something tells me this will become one of their favorite dishes from now on :) Thanks again!

Cooking for two can be tough sometimes. It's nice to find recipes that do wonderfully as a leftover too.
These potatoes are easy and truly scrumptious.

I added some cubed ham and had it as our main course. Hard to stop eating them....SO good!

Could an alternate vegetable such as rutabaga be used in this dish? Could be delicious. If so, would any modifications be necessary?

You could try another vegetable for sure. You may just have to adjust the cooking times. Let us know how it turns out. Good luck and enjoy!

My family loved this recipe! The potatoes took quite a bit longer to cook, and thankfully I read some of the early reviews and was expecting this, so it was not a problem to plan the rest of the meal around. My husband and I did notice that the garlic tasted a bit over cooked, almost bitter. Perhaps this is due to needing to cook the dish longer. Would mixing the garlic in with the cream & cheese mixure perhaps prevent this?
I am new to this site and just love it. Thank you Rouxbe staff!

We have never had an issue with bitter garlic in this recipe. Maybe it was your garlic. Here is a video on Buying and Preparing Garlic. If you want to try adding the garlic with the cream, it won't hurt. Try it again - this one is delicious.